


handle with care

by dejakyu (dietsoba)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Anal Sex, Blood and Injury, Droid!Kyungsoo, Established Relationship, Knotting, M/M, Mutual Pining, Platonic CBXD, Smut, Space Battles, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:01:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22905142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dietsoba/pseuds/dejakyu
Summary: Baekhyun, Minseok, and their droid, D12-O, will take on any odd job across the galaxy for the right price, but when an ex-crew-member with an urgent request makes an unexpected appearance in the cargo hold of their ship, they soon realize they should probably rethink their business model…and perhaps invest in better shields.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 43
Collections: Unrestricted Love Poly Fic Fest





	1. Baekhyun

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt (#95) called for an odd jobs business, so I borrowed their business name from Gintama—Yorozuya literally means "odd jobs."
> 
> **Updates are going to be hella slow because of backlog and life but the whole thing is outlined in detail.**

Baekhyun yawned wide, tail twitching lazily, as he made his way out of the steel-coated inner corridors of Immapa’s largest crystal growing facility. He could hear Minseok and their droid, D-12O, having a hushed conversation as they followed behind him. They were no doubt talking about how poorly they had completed this job, which consisted of attaching complicated filters to exhaust pipes. Baekhyun couldn’t care less about the quality of the work they did in this shoddy mine so much as he cared about the hefty sum they’d been paid to do it.

The other two stopped talking as they approached Baekhyun, who now stood before a massive set of airlock doors. D-12O–or Kyungsoo as both Minseok and Baekhyun called him–sped over to the door’s keypad to type in the security code they’d been given for the duration of their time here.

“You could have just done this yourself,” Kyungsoo grumbled, his practical, all-terrain wheels whirring in place with irritation.

“I forgot the numbers,” Baekhyun lied, his tufty ears atop his head twitching.

Kyungsoo’s smooth black head swivelled around and he peered suspiciously at Baekhyun, as if he sensed the lie, but ultimately finished typing in the code so they could get out of this blasted city.

Baekhyun could feel Minseok’s disapproval emanating from him even without looking at him–Minseok was well aware of Baekhyun’s “tells” at this point. He figured he was in for a night of “punishment”, which had him more excited than scared. He expected Minseok to actually vocalize his threat, but he received only silence, not even a passing glance.

Baekhyun turned his gaze on the doors so he could appreciate the view of the sky-city’s largest hangar. The massive space opened out into the gaseous planet’s toxic mint coloured clouds, which was kept out by a force field designed specifically to maintain a liveable environment within the hangar. The result was a beautiful view of the twisting clouds and occasional glimpse of the night sky and the three moons that circled the planet.

Scattered around was an incredibly diverse collection of space crafts in all shapes and sizes. Most crafts were there to ship supplies to the city, but the others were a collection of builds from around the galaxy–many used the ship as a low-profile pit-stop between galaxies, so the variety was much greater than one would expect.

Baekhyun’s carmine-coloured ears flattened against his head with overstimulation and feline tail curled inwards once he picked up on the din of maintenance workers, pilots, engines, and transport crafts dropping off their deliveries. This only worsened when one of the space crafts took off with a tremendous amount of noise. He felt Minseok’s comforting hand on his shoulder as he watched it soar off into the smog.

The pain had wiped the grin from Baekhyun’s face, but it wasn’t enough to deter his good mood entirely; this was a big job and had taken at least two weeks to complete.

They dodged workers while they chatted, keeping their voices low and faces relatively hidden. Without his hood, Minseok was being extra cautious; after one overly curious look, he opened his umbrella against the light pouring in from the hangar entrance and against any who would look upon him.

“Thank god we’re finally done,” Baekhyun said, spinning away from Minseok so that he could face him while walking backwards. “Only one more job and we can finally take a break!”

Minseok twacked him lightly on the ass with the bullet-proof umbrella he carried with him at all times due to his species’ susceptibility to starlight.

“We could have been finished for the next half cycle had you taken any of the three available jobs in the same system as the last one we finished,” Minseok complained. “But  _ no _ , you had to pick this sketchy job in the middle of Satan’s asscrack just left of nowhere.”

Baekhyun held up his hands and hopped outside of Minseok’s reach. He couldn’t exactly blame Minseok for his irritation, it _ had _ been an unpleasant job and his partner wasn’t designed to operate well in extreme heat. His curly black hair was frizzy in the humid air and his pearly skin shone with sweat for the entire duration of their stay. He’d ditched the protective jacket he usually wore on the first day in favour of a soft sleeveless shirt that left his arms exposed.

For the job, they had been forced to crawl through vents on ropes while wearing gas masks and hazard suits in order to replace the air filters in the crystal growing chambers. It required focus, strength, and endurance and Baekhyun would be lying if he said his muscles weren’t still shaky from the exertion.

“Hey, hey, I said I was sorry!” Baekhyun cried when Minseok’s umbrella came in contact with his shoulder. “I didn’t know it would be this awful. You can pick the next few jobs, I promise!” he pleaded.

Minseok deflated a little and stopped his assault. Baekhyun took this as a sign that he could relax as well and fall into step with Minseok; they were both exhausted and deserved a rest.

“Okay fine, maybe this was the best job option if it means we get to go on break even earlier,” Minseok said, sighing in defeat.

Baekhyun grinned wolfishly at him. “Exactly, we can start spending quality time together even sooner than planned.” 

“Yes, yes, you horny furball, but we’re not taking a break as long as the last one. We barely survived because we ran out of money for supplies and even then you kept moaning about break extensions.”

“But we did survive,” Baekhyun insisted.

“Of course we did, but not because of anything you did.  _ You _ may not spend the money we make but that’s because Kyungsoo and I are the ones going out and paying for things that we need. We need money if we want to keep doing this,” Minseok continued.

“I know! Stars, Minseok, I’m not an idiot. Maybe I should remind you that we also need more liaisons because you’ve terrified half of the ones we have,” Baekhyun pointed out.

For emphasis, he stared at the scars that crossed Minseok’s arms and the faded tattoos that tied him to the space pirate crew he once belonged to. As a Yato Minseok’s body was far stronger than even his impressive musculature implied and his beauty was in turns sweet and as sharp and deadly as a knife. He could go from bubbly to intimidating in seconds, a fact that Baekhyun personally found extremely hot.

“Yes, well, if they’re terrified that easily they’re not worth our time,” Minseok grumbled. “Let’s just get to the ship so we can get off this planet, I need to be in a place that isn’t ridiculously hot.” 

“Baby,” Baekhyun taunted, tail swishing behind him. “The ship’s right there, we’ll be back in the cold abyss of space in no time.”

At the far end of the hangar, beside some food supply carriers, sat the Lupus 3000, a large Model-B Holoro Cruiser that had been acquired and named by Baekhyun before he’d met any of the others. The cruiser was once a top-of-the-line ship that had certainly seen better days. It was so worn and had been repainted so many times that one could scarcely tell where it had even come from. Baekhyun was all the happier for it because he had acquired it from a second-hand dealer in a game of cards. It was only later that he found out the ship had been stolen from the Ahootanon Imperial Forces just before they’d been assimilated into the union.

As more people joined his one-man enterprise, he decided to go beyond adding interesting paint colour decisions to disguise the ship and made the possibly-unwise decision to paint the name of their business in black, sky blue, and green on the side of their ship. The bright “Yorozuya BaekXi-O” made it explicit that the ship was theirs and that no one would mistake it for anything but. He would probably have to cover it up if the pirates ever made the connection between Minseok and the ship.

Baekhyun was just about to throw an arm around Minseok’s shoulders so they could walk the rest of the way to the ship side-by-side when they heard a whirring noise from behind accompanied by a series of panicked beeps.

Both Baekhyun and Minseok were pushed aside by four three-pronged droid hands and sent stumbling off to the side by Kyungsoo. The short, black metal droid rolled by them and sped up the ramp into the ship. A small satellite protruded from his head, so Baekhyun figured that he had been checking the ship’s vitals from a distance and needed to make adjustments before they took off again.

“Hey, that hurt!” Baekhyun called from where he clung to Minseok to keep from falling, but Kyungsoo was already out of sight. All that was left was for them to follow.

“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun called once he entered the ship.

There was no acknowledgement that Baekhyun had even spoken by Kyungsoo, so he simply dropped his things in the ship’s common space. On his way to the cruiser’s spacious cockpit, he noticed Kyungsoo’s droid body had already been hooked up to the ship for charging and that his A.I. chip had been returned to the ship’s system.

Minseok emerged from their shared bedroom and came to stand with Baekhyun by the droid. “He’s still not answering? Is something wrong?”

Baekhyun gestured towards the light that indicated the A.I. was operating properly.

“Ah,” Minseok said in understanding, “He’s doing an internal assessment before we leave again.”

“Yep,” Baekhyun chirped, “which means we get to launch the ship manually for once.”

Baekhyun practically skipped into the cockpit and sat down in his comfy co-pilot seat. He then spun himself towards the dash, pressing buttons and tapping on the glass display to manually initiate the launch sequence. He loved flying the ship and was humming to himself in happiness.

Minseok sat down on the other chair and started organizing the paperwork and finances that came with completing a job. Baekhyun was so thankful he no longer had to do that part of the job–it was a mess.

“Baekhyun, why does it say we have another job on the schedule?” Minseok asked, breaking their companionable quiet.

His tone was cold and stiff, ruining the mood instantly. Baekhyun raised his head to look at Minseok staring at the display on his side to find him wearing an expression of horror similar to the one Baekhyun himself wore.

“What did you just say?”

“Look right here,” Minseok said, pointing to a new entry in their official schedule with the appropriate link to the odd jobs network. “Did you see this before we left the ship?”

“Of course not, why did you think I was so excited about this being our last job? As if I would compromise our quality time like that. When I said I wanted sex on the beach, I meant it.” Baekhyun responded indignantly.

“Right, of course. I guess we better see what it is we’re supposed to be doing and whether or not we want to risk the penalty of pawning it on someone else for no real reason,” Minseok said, opening the job on the screen before him.

“Okay,” he said while his eyes scanned the request, “our next order of business to…bring a high-priority, top-secret package to the…are you kidding me? Not the Gobada System, I’m not going back to fucking M’orberang.”

Minseok dragged the schedule so it was on the large display that spread between them. Baekhyun scanned its contents and his brows furrowed in confusion. It  _ should _ have been empty after this last job; Baekhyun had been the one responsible for inputting it and was looking forward to seeing an empty schedule once it got deleted. Instead, there was the mysterious delivery request.

“This is weird as fuck, what are we even supposed to deliver when we didn’t collect anything? The message implies we already have what they’re requesting.”

Minseok shook his head. “I have no idea, it just says to drop whatever it is at some random coordinates outside Pu’yats.”

“Well,” Baekhyun began slowly, “if you didn’t add it and I didn’t add it then–”

“I added it,” Kyungsoo said, the light indicating his presence glowing a neutral shade of blue.

Both Minseok and Baekhyun looked up towards the light that shined above an intercom speaker in unison–Kyungsoo took no physical form when his A.I. chip was connected to the ship at large so they had nothing else to look at. Kyungsoo had never done anything like this before and Baekhyun was very, very confused.

Baekhyun frowned. “It’s supposed to be our vacation time, why did you do this?

The light slowly switched to a wine-like colour. “I have every right to accept my own requests as a member of this crew, I run this ship and I know how much it costs to maintain it. This is an important delivery with a high enough profit that you’ll be on vacation for a long time.”

Taken aback by Kyungsoo’s unusual assertion, Baekhyun peered at the screen, reading the details of the job more carefully than he had before. His eyes widened when he saw the actual payment upon completion.

“That is a  _ lot _ of money,” he said in awe. It was truly an amount to quell any serious objection to the job. 

His comment prompted Minseok to look back at the screen. His eyes widened as he converted currencies in his head.

“Yes, yes it is. I suppose we’ll just have to do it and then really splurge on this vacation.”

Baekhyun grinned, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head and his feet propped up on the dash. His head swam with ideas of what they could do with all of that money from extravagant vacationing to ship renovations. Hell, they might even be able to afford a new ship.

“Can’t argue with that amount, it’ll be one hell of a break. I wonder what it’s really for.”

Minseok looked over at Baekhyun, eyes flicking from his face to the feet on the dash he kept meticulously clean in disapproval. Thankfully, he didn’t comment or else he’d be stuck cleaning it again as punishment.

Instead, Minseok said, “The only reason I can think of is that the package must involve the Rebels somehow, I think that’s where they’re stationed right now.”

_ Right, rebels, _ Baekhyun thought in realization. Their involvement would explain the sum considering they had considerable funding and a great need for secrecy. However, if this was the case, that would make Kyungsoo’s acceptance all the more strange; they didn’t take on rebel requests as a rule, even if the connection was vague.

“Are you sure that’s where they’re stationed?” he asked, just to check if Minseok’s speculation was valid. “I thought they were over in the Veneah Cluster.”

“Do you even listen to the news, Baekhyun? The Union conducted a raid on that cluster four years ago, all of the current whispers about the rebel base all indicate Gobada.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Kyungsoo said, not sounding even remotely remorseful, “but there’s a large group of unidentified space crafts that likely belong to mercenaries and bounty hunters waiting in the upper atmosphere among the clouds that are likely waiting for us to emerge. The longer we stay here talking, the longer they have to prepare for our arrival.”

Baekhyun hated how Kyungsoo was so gifted at ruining the mood by delivering rather uncomfortable truths right when he was beginning to relax.

“What do you mean mercenaries? And how do you even know they’re after us?” Baekhyun demanded.

“Get your stinking feet off the dash and maybe I’ll tell you.”

Minseok smacked Baekhyun’s legs, forcing them to fall with a crash.

Ignoring his yelp, Minseok asked, “Will you please explain, Kyungsoo?”

“Better,” Kyungsoo said primly. “Anyway, it seems that the contents of our next shipment are rather valuable and if we do not get them where they need to be quickly, we might find ourselves in danger.”

Both Minseok and Baekhyun stared at Kyungsoo’s light in disbelief. He had so casually roped them into a mission far more dangerous than what they took on and now they had to deal with hostile forces. Baekhyun wasn’t even sure if they were equipped to deal with assailants.What he was sure about was that Kyungsoo wasn’t telling them the entire truth about this mysterious job and he didn’t like it one bit.

“You seriously took on a job with a risk factor that high, what were you thinking?” Minseok shouted.

Kyungsoo made a noise that sounded almost like a sigh but it sounded more like someone pressing down every key on an 8-bit keyboard. “Listen, I had to take this job, I didn’t really have a choice. You’ll thank me later. Let’s just get off this damn planet all in one piece.”

Both Baekhyun and Minseok opened their mouths because that was far from a satisfactory answer but Kyungsoo cut them off before they could start. “No, I can’t tell you any more. I mean it, this is important.”

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, “Okay, fine. But don’t think we won’t discuss this later.”

“Thank you.”

Minseok clapped his hands together. “Okay, now that we’ve settled that, let’s figure out how to deal with our friends up above.”

Kyungsoo drew up what he had found on his sensors so that they could see it with the 3D projector that sat in the middle of the cockpit. They both swivelled around and studied the collection of inferior space crafts. There was no order to them, so there were probably no Union crafts among them. Fortunately that meant they didn’t have to hold back against a group of criminals the Union wouldn’t miss.

“I recommend flying low, along the surface of the planet, until we reach one of the mountain ranges. Then we fly along the peaks and turn on our cloaking so they can’t see the point at which we fly upwards among the peaks. We’ll be hidden by clouds the rest of the way,” Kyungsoo explained, manipulating the display to follow his description.

“Seems simple enough,” Minseok remarked, still studying the model. “But they’ll be following us too, no?”

Baekhyun held back a groan. He might have ditched his cartel-run, home planet, Ymish, to enter one the The Galactic Union’s most prestigious pilot academies, but he wasn’t there long, dropping out when he realized all of the students were about to get drafted to fight the rebels. Besides, that had been a long time ago and his fine tuned evasion skills had gotten rusty from lack of use. He wasn’t confident he could evade open fire  _ and _ keep the ship intact.

As if he could read his thoughts, Minseok placed a hand on Baekhyun’s knee and looked into his eyes. “It’ll be fine, you’ve been getting more practice than you think you have. You also have Kyungsoo and I as back-up this time.”

Baekhyun smiled weakly at him. “You might be right about that, no one would dare cross of the most terrifying ex-pirates this side of the galaxy.”

“Hurry,” Kyungsoo told them, flashing the model to show that the enemy ships were beginning to make their move.

Almost as soon as they flew out of the mining city, large streaks of light brushed by their ship, only missing them by a hair. Baekhyun cried out as he yanked the ship away from the line of fire and Minseok yelled as he was nearly pulled from his seat by the sudden change in orientation.

“Put your seatbelt on!” Minseok shouted at him.

Baekhyun nodded and did as he was told before he sent the ship in a nosedive just as two of the Caxit Speeders shooting at them came into view. Baekhyun added more gas to speed up their descent because there were many more where they came from.

The sudden rush of adrenaline sent his senses into overdrive, drawing all of his focus to the immediate threat posed by the enemy ships. Despite that, he did register an incredibly loud sound coming from the cargo hold at the bottom of the ship. It sounded as if something huge had fallen against one of the metal walls and he winced. They had grown lax when it came to tying things down when Baekhyun installed a better gravity equalizer and anything not held down in the ship was currently flying freely around the empty spaces.

He shook his head, he didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

Beside him, Minseok drew up several panels and deployed their own guns for return fire, managing to knock the wing off one and simply obliterate the other one. They both whooped at the sight on the monitor, emboldened by their first small victory.

The next enemy craft on their display–a stolen Union Spitfire–was speeding up behind them, coming closer. It had a large metal claw attached to it which Baekhyun assumed was for dragging captured ships along. Minseok began open fire without hesitation, wearing down a hole in the ship’s shields.

“Fuck,” Baekhyun swore.

Not taking his eye off the monitor displaying the rear view of the ship, Minseok asked, “What?”

“Shields.”

“Fuck…Soo, put up the shields!” Minseok called as his barrage finally broke the enemy shield and they achieved their third victory.

Kyungsoo’s light was in a permanent orange state of emergency but he answered promptly, “Who do you think I am? That was the first thing I did you idiots. Just focus on flying and shooting things, I’ll deal with the shields and cloaking device.”

“Sounds good to me,” Baekhyun said, speeding up with an extra blast of power from their core. He twined deftly between large spires of crystal both because he knew he could and because it would be stupid for any enemy to try and do the same.

Minseok did not look impressed. “This isn’t a game Baekhyun. Don’t use up all of our fuel when we don’t know wha–” Minseok yelled as another ship came up from below, twirling in their direction. He fired one of their larger canons at it, but not before the other pilot managed to get in one shot.

“Nevermind what I just said, put a lead on it cat boy and let’s get off this stupid swamp planet.”

“Yes dear,” Baekhyun said after he flashed a quick smile at Minseok.

It was incredibly fortunate that they were on a planet with so many dense clouds. They also had the edge in that they had been on the planet long enough to get their bearings. It made navigation so much easier and they were soon at the mountain range Kyungsoo had mentioned.

“Are we cloaked?” Baekhyun asked while Minseok prepared for the journey into open space.

“Affirmative,” Kyungsoo replied. “The enemy ships have all scattered in search of us but none are nearby.”

Baekhyun let out a sigh and reduced their speed. The cloaking technology that came with this model was the reason Baekhyun had risked everything in the card game he’d played to win it in the first place. It was good enough to keep them from being detected by all but the strongest, most effective sensors; it was one of the reasons the Union had taken over the Ahootanon Empire in the first place. The device had protected Baekhyun from the Union forces as a draft escapee and later helped Minseok, ex-pirate that he was, hide as well, even though most knew to leave them well alone.

Once they were prepped for ascent, Baekhyun sped up their core so they could launch themselves out of the planet’s thick atmosphere and careen out into space. The entire process went peacefully and soon they were in space headed for their destination.

Baekhyun let out a huge sigh of relief, slouching low into his chair and flexing his hands after gripping the controls so hard. Minseok was using his shirt to wipe the sweat that had beaded on his forehead from the stress. It had been a long time since they’d been in any sort of firefight. Even if this was one was relatively small, it was still nerve wracking.

“Well that was fun,” Kyungsoo’s voice echoed through the cabin, his light an amused shade of amber.

“Redefine fun,” Minseok snapped. He was focused intently on checking the monitors for any bounty hunters that had decided to wait for them once they were in space.

“Did either of you hear that loud noise from somewhere in the back of the ship when we tilted sideways?”

“No.” They both answered simultaneously.

Baekhyun felt his stomach drop. “Seriously, it sounded like a fridge tipped over, you didn’t hear anything?”

“I was a little busy trying not to fall out of my seat while firing back, Baekhyun,” Minseok said, “Maybe you were just hearing things.”

“Kyungsoo, can you find anything on your cameras?” Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo, who had made a noise that had sounded an awful lot like a curse when Baekhyun insisted he had heard something.

Kyungsoo didn’t answer.

Baekhyun eyed the light suspiciously. “There was definitely something. I don’t want anything weird on our ship, like the time that Codux got on board and ate nearly all of our food. Please can you go check Minseok?”

“No, I have to monitor for followers and I think you’re being ridiculous. If you really want to go down there, you do it yourself,” Minseok said, shooing Baekhyun away.

Kyungsoo’s intercom buzzed, “It’s fine, you really don’t have to go check. My cameras tell me there’s nothing down there, see?”

Kyungsoo brought up an image from the security camera in the cargo hold.

“That doesn’t show anything, I know there’s only one real camera down there.

Kyungsoo sighed, which Baekhyun thought was odd, though he didn’t comment on it. If Kyungsoo said there was nothing to worry about, then there should be nothing to worry about and he could return to the cockpit quickly without much trouble. If he was wrong, well then Baekhyun hoped whatever it was he heard wasn’t alive and dangerous.

Baekhyun stalked out of the cockpit and made his way down to the ship’s main cargo bay. Their ship was large for a cruiser of this type and a little too big for their small crew, but the size worked in their favour whenever they needed to make deliveries or take extra passengers aboard. It also made for better parties. 

The first thing he noticed when he reached the hold’s massive door was the fact that the status screen beside the door indicated that room was unsealed and that oxygen and water humidity were being filtered into the air, something that was only done if the room was occupied so they didn’t waste energy making the entire ship liveable all the time.

Baekhyun cautiously pressed the button to open the door, one hand on his blaster in case something decided to race towards him. He waited for several seconds at the entrance but nothing happened. The only thing out of place were a few things that hadn’t been tied down and the fact that the lights at the back of the space were already on when they definitely should not be. The lights were also strangely missing from the night vision image Kyungsoo had provided earlier.

Baekhyun’s discomfort had turned into dread now that he knew something wasn’t adding up. He wished Minseok had just agreed to what he asked and gone in his place. He cursed the other two and stepped into the room, determined to get to the bottom of this–why oxegenate a room they weren’t using?

Baekhyun turned on the rest of the lights, took his blaster from its holster, and walked into the room. Right now it was filled with large piles of crystal they had gathered on Immapa for selling, loaded and organized by Kyungsoo. Many of them had been covered with canvas and tied into large blocks that littered the room, so Baekhyun was forced to proceed carefully, looking around each block for whatever might be down there.

Baekhyun heard a rustling sound from somewhere at the back of the room followed by what sounded like a hiss and spun in the direction of the sound.

Near the back of the storage bay stood a massive metal crate that Baekhyun had never seen before. It was large enough for Baekhyun to be able to lie down comfortably within it and it had certainly not been here the last time Minseok had forced him to help organize and clean the room. Its presence now could only mean that it likely had something to do with their mysterious special delivery.

He was so lost in thought trying to solve the mystery of the crate that when he heard a loud noise come from within it, he let out an undignified shriek and stumbled backwards onto his ass. He quickly scrambled back onto his feet, pursing his lips together to keep from embarrassing himself further lest Minseok come down to check on him.

Then he heard what could only be described as a muffled laugh come from the crate. That, or some kind of similar sound made by a potentially dangerous beast. Either way his tail bristled and his ears flattened against his head.

Baekhyun shuffled closer to the crate and cleared his throat. “Show yourself, unarmed and limbs visible, or I won’t hesitate to shoot.”

To show his resolve he made a few test shots at the ground and at the crate, filling the room with the smell of burning metal. One of his shots had actually penetrated the metal but he couldn't see through the hole.

There was no reaction or reply, if anything, things only got quieter. Baekhyun took a steadying breath. 

He didn’t want to go forward but he also didn’t want to go get Minseok to deal with it but that would mean admitting that he was scared, which he was not. He was simply concerned about the situation and felt it was best someone more capable handled it. He knew no one would believe that, so he was stuck dealing with it alone.

Cautiously, he took step after step towards the crate and kicked it hard with his boot so that it slid backwards towards the back wall.

“Yah!” a voice cried out in pain.

Baekhyun would later deny that he jumped four feet in the air at the sound but he did, in fact, jump four feet in the air in surprise. He was going to kill Kyungsoo.

“I know you’re there, come out!” he shouted, his voice cracking.

He heard a shuffling coming from behind the crate along with a hiss of pain. Heavy footsteps followed until a figure dressed in dark space gear appeared around the side of the crate, which had apparently been lying open on its side.

Baekhyun raised his gun immediately to point at the stranger, heart jumping into his throat. He was fully prepared to shoot until he realized that the figure limping along the side of the crate was almost painfully familiar.

In fact, Baekhyun was quite well acquainted with their mystery stowaway and his mouth fell open with shock when realization finally hit him. He could never mistake that cat-like mouth, those high cheekbones, that beautiful neck, or that slender frame. It was if the blond Terran had jumped straight out of memory, not one mole out of place.

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine this situation when he came down to investigate. He was shocked speechless, unable to believe what he was seeing. He thought he’d never see this particular Terran ever again and now he was hiding out in their cargo hold for reasons unknown.

Once he found his voice and got a hold of himself, Baekhyun asked, “Jongdae, is that you?"

Jongdae gave him a pained smile and scoffed, “No, Baekhyun, it’s my evil twin. Of course it’s me, who else could get away with sneaking aboard without either of you noticing.”

Baekhyun was still trying to process what he was seeing and had opened his mouth without thinking of what he was going to say. His eyes finally fell to a rip in Jongdae’s suit on his calf that was now red with blood.

Jongdae looked down at his leg and back up. “I didn’t think you’d go so far as to shoot me, I didn’t think our goodbye went that poorly.”

Baekhyun felt himself relax and he quickly returned his blaster to its holster. “No, it didn’t. I’m sorry about that. Can I–”

“Wait,” Jongdae said between grit teeth. He continued along the crate until he slid down to sit on the floor, his back against the crate. He started rubbing his calf while staring resentfully at him, though Baekhyun’s instincts told him Jongdae bore him no real hostility.

“Why are you on my ship? You scared me!” he accused.

Sure, it was his fault Jongdae was injured, and he did feel bad about it, but if Jongdae had actually approached them and asked for passage, none of this would have even happened. He couldn’t understand why he would go so far as to stow away.

Jongdae looked up at Baekhyun with a curious expression on his face, but he didn’t meet Baekhyun’s eyes. “That is…a very good question,” he said slowly.

To Baekhyun, it seemed as if he couldn’t decide whether or not to trust him with the truth. It wasn’t the first time he’d shown Baekhyun this face; Jongdae was always a man of many secrets, many of which he kept to himself.

Most of the things that Baekhyun wanted to say didn’t quite suit the mood simply because he wasn’t certain what the mood actually was. There were too many thoughts and emotions running through his system at the sight of his old friend. He couldn’t figure out if he was angry because Jongdae had gone  _ years _ without contact or overjoyed because Jongdae was once again here in front of him.

Before either of them could say anything else, the doors at the far end of the room opened and Minseok yelled, “Baekhyun? Where are you?”

“Here!” Baekhyun called back, side-eying Jongdae. He wasn’t about to leave Minseok out of this, so Jongdae was going to have to deal with Minseok too.

“What’s going on? I heard you yell!” Minseok said, rounding the last mound of crystal.

Baekhyun looked down at Jongdae, who had the good grace to look guilty, and then towards Minseok. “We have a stowaway, I was just asking him why he was on our ship without our express permission and he was busy not giving an answer.”

Minseok’s eyes widened when he saw Jongdae.

“Jongdae?” he breathed.

“Surprise,” Jongdae said with a tight smile.

“Why are you on our ship?” Minseok asked, coming to stand beside Baekhyun. He crossed his bulky arms so they looked even more impressive and intimidating.

Jongdae remained silent, looking between the two of them as if unsure what to say, unsure of what he  _ could _ say. It had been at least six years since either of them had last seen Jongdae, their human friend and respective ex-crewmate, six years since Jongdae had quit Yorozuya ChenBaekXi-O and left them to help his brother with the rebel forces he had a long-standing commitment to.

He said he was leaving them for what could very well be the last time before returning to his foster brother, who was a commander in the Seven Stars Rebel Forces. Up until then, he had only taken slight breaks from their company to complete rebel missions. Now, here he was, sitting in their cargo bay. Given how uncomfortable Jongdae appeared, Baekhyun assumed he had no intention of getting caught by either of them.

Baekhyun had no idea what to do or say in this situation. It was so many levels of awkward that he could only laugh nervously until someone else decided to resume this conversation.

“Ah,  _ wait _ ! I don’t belie–we’re transporting  _ Jongdae _ , aren’t we?” Minseok exclaimed suddenly, startling both Baekhyun and Jongdae. “You’re our cargo, aren’t you? The cargo Kyungsoo let aboard that we have to bring all the way to fucking M’orberang.”

Baekhyun looked between the two of them and then over to the intercom where Kyungsoo’s light would no doubt appear in a few seconds. “Are you kidding me?”

Minseok marched over to stand beside Baekhyun and narrowed his eyes at Kyungsoo’s light. “Kyungsoo get your blinking light down here and explain.”

“Soo?” Jongdae called, gingerly arranging his legs before him, “help me out here.”

Several tense moments later, Kyungsoo’s light flashed a frustrated deep red.

“I thought I told you to be discrete Jongdae, that was the agreement, this isn’t discrete,” Kyungsoo scolded in his menacing metallic voice. You could tell how exasperated he was whenever his voice started distorting like this.

Jongdae scowled. “Thanks, I am well aware.”

“Oh good, I was worried I misjudged human intelligence again,” Kyungsoo said dryly.

“You knew about this!” Baekhyun exclaimed, looking between Jongdae and Kyungsoo’s light. “And you didn’t tell us!”

Kyungsoo ignored Baekhyun and continued, “Then you should also be aware that you were eating far too much from the food supplies. We would have run out before our next supplies stop. You would have been caught either way when one of these two came to look for emergency food supplies.”

“Can either of you please just explain what is going on?”Minseok asked, looking between them. He was frowning and his grip on his super umbrella was tightening. It was hot and menacing all at the same time. Too bad that was only effective against Jongdae.

“Of course I did, I’m literally the ship’s eyes and ears. I was the one who allowed him to stay and took on his job request. He’s  _ my _ guest, and, in case you forgot, I work here too and can choose jobs as I see fit,” Kyungsoo ended. No one in the room said anything because he did have a point. Jongdae also had every right to request a job from an odd jobs business.

“Okay,” Minseok said, “now that we have that settled, I want to know why you, whom we haven’t seen in years, are now camping out in our store room and eating our food? Why didn’t you just talk to either of us?”

Jongdae licked his lips and looked between the two of them.

Baekhyun realized that Jongdae looked like an absolute wreck. He was too thin and covered with half-healed injuries. He wanted nothing more than to reach out to him and help, but he wasn’t sure if that would even be welcome. Baekhyun was left watching as Minseok walked over and held out a hand to Jongdae to help him up. To both of their surprise, he wasn’t rejected and followed them obediently up deck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** My Twitter [daejakyu](https://twitter.com/daejakyu)  
> ** My [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/daejakyu)


	2. Jongdae

Jongdae stumbled out of the tiny, beaten-up shuttle he’d been on for three miserable days accompanied by a large group of Narfs–a species of blob-shaped being that smelled horrendous–and onto the space station. With him, he had only a small bag of personal items and the multi-purpose space suit on his back, having earned his passage by fixing the shuttle’s heating system.

It had been days since he’d last eaten, having been unable to find anything suitable for a Terran to eat. He was glad they had water on board or he might have actually died. He was absolutely starving and faint-headed and would need to find some kind of nourishment before he passed out.

With the shuttle going back to the planet he just came from, Jongdae was now stuck on a space station looking at all of the people and ships stopping by to refuel, shop, or get repairs done. Lost as he felt, this was the best place for him to search for another ship to get him one step closer to where he needed to be–some backwoods planet in the middle of nowhere. 

Jongdae understood that the headquarters for the rebellion against the oppressive oligarchy that ruled over most of the galaxy needed to be located in a safe, secure location to operate properly. But, while he might understand, he also resented the fact that this secrecy meant that the base was very difficult to get to.

The process of finding a ship was complicated by the breach of security that had Jongdae stranded here alone in the first place. He had to keep his identity secret should any soldier of The Galactic Union or bounty hunter who had seen his face on the wanted list find him and bring him in for his untimely death. The world was not a safe place for exposed members of the largest resistance movement when almost every part of the galaxy was kept under the iron fist of totalitarianism, but he had no desire to get caught when he wasn’t even halfway to his destination.

Jongdae roamed the station for days in his ratty space suit that was only just function enough that could keep him safe should he end up in the vacuum of space. He slept in the cold hangar of the station under the wings of a beat-up swifter and amidst strange creatures brought from all parts of the universe that had made the space hope, hoping he wouldn’t end up poisoned, eaten, or with some contagious disease. He couldn’t complete his costly mission if he died of something so stupid in the process.

After two weeks of this miserable life he had nearly given up hope on finding a ship headed in the direction he needed, let alone one willing to take an extra passenger. He wandered the hangar aimlessly, chewing on a stick of mystery meat he bought with money he found on the floor when he finally saw what might be his ticket home. Easily recognizable by its unique build and vibrant logo on the side, the Lupus 3000 was parked in the middle landing bay of the station. It looked almost the same as when he left so abruptly six years earlier save for a few more dents and scratches that hadn’t been there before and a slight change to the logo. What once read "Yorozuya ChenBaekXi-O" now said “Yorozuya BaekXi-O”; his nickname was removed from their business name entirely.

None of that mattered though, it was what the ship represented that was important. He hadn’t so much as heard about ship in years and yet the mere sight of it made him feel as if he had finally come home after years abroad. He could feel tears of relief burning his eyes despite the fact that he rarely cried. He couldn’t believe his dumb luck; maybe the universe had decided he needed a break from his misery.

It had been a total of six years since Jongdae had been on the Lupus 3000, six years since he’d been a member of Baekhyun’s crack odd jobs endeavour, six years years since he had last seen or spoken to Baekhyun, Minseok, or Kyungsoo, and he stood there for a time, trying to process it all.

Jongdae couldn’t name all of the emotions flowing through him at the moment, nor did he know what to do about them. He never imagined he’d find the one group of people who might actually be able to help him, if they were willing of course. After everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure they would be, but he was in enough of a bind to try.

His thoughts flashed back to the horrible turn of events over the past few months that threw his mission off kilter. He’d just finished a three-year long infiltration mission on a Union dreadnaught, trying to discover the secret to their fleet-destroying guns. Once he learned it, he had escaped with his partner, Sehun, only to be bitterly betrayed by their informant, Chanyeol.

Jongdae had been through a lot. The only thing that kept him going was the need to get the information he’d successfully gathered back to his brother, Junmyeon, at the rebel headquarters and his burning desire to find and rescue Sehun from whatever fate Jongdae had left him to.

Now, he needed to make several decisions and he needed to make them fast.

Ignoring his tumultuous emotions, Jongdae made his way to the ship. He still had no ideas when it came to actually speaking with his former crew-mates but he’d rather deal with angry old friends than Union Soldiers and potential death sentences when he had other priorities.

He walked up to the side of the ship and pressed the button that would lower the walkway so he could climb aboard. When nothing happened, he opened the number pad and hoped Baekhyun had been lazy enough to use the same code as before. He was delighted when he guessed the password right on his first try–Baekhyun’s birthday in Common Time.

Once inside, Jongdae found that luck was still on his side; there was no one on board and he was free to wander around and consider his next move. Minseok and Baekhyun were likely in the middle of some job here and currently occupied.

As he thought, he looked around, trying to catch all of the changes that had been made in his absence. Many things remained the same, save for the ship’s sleeping quarters. His room had been turned into a guest bunk, Baekhyun’s room had been taken over by gaming devices and simulators and gadgetry that needed fixing. When he walked into Minseok’s room he found an immaculate bed that was twice the size of what it used to be. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there had been a major development since he had left.

He was left feeling somewhat out of place in a space he once called home to the extent that he changed his plans as to what he was going to do. He wasn’t going to beg them to let him stay and take him to where he needed to be, he was going to stay secret and try to figure out how to manipulate them into going without their knowledge. 

The one factor he was uncertain about was Kyungsoo, who was essentially the eyes and ears of the ship. There was no way he would be able to secretly remain aboard without his knowing, but that was also something he’d have to deal with when the time came to confront it.

His immediate concern was finding a place to hide. Even with Kyungsoo’s support, and despite the size of the ship, there were few places he could stay and remain unnoticed for long periods of time. The only location that could potentially serve his needs was the cargo hole because no one went down there unless it was absolutely necessary–Jongdae had been the one who used it the most.

When he did go down to the hold, he found it much the same as when he left it. There was also an unusually large amount of dust by Minseok’s standards. 

This made him oddly touched; this was  _ his _ room and they had left it as such. With this knowledge, Jondsae was relatively confident he could hide out in the back without getting caught.

Figuring he needed some sort of protection, or at least a place to hide in. Jongdae went back into the hangar with an anti-gravity stick to grab one of the large metal crates lined up against the wall. He carefully guided it into the ship and settled it near the back of the hold. He put all of his things along with the supplies he collected while upstairs inside and then climbed in himself.

“Jongdae, why are you here?”a disembodied voice asked.

Jongdae jumped and whipped his head around to search for the speaker. He had only just managed to not cry out in surprise and drop the things he was arranging in the crate.

It took a while, but he finally saw a yellow light above a speaker. “Soo?” he called.

“Obviously,” he said, his light flashing indignantly. "Now tell me, why are you here, Jongdae? If the other two see you it’ll be a dramatic mess, so I need to know if any of this is worth it. I will not have them hurt again.”

Jongdae hid a smile at Kyungsoo’s first remark but turned his eyes down to his hands as Kyungsoo continued. His anger was very much warranted, as was his need to protect their friends. It matched the worst scenario he’d come up tien.

“I know I shouldn’t have come back at all after leaving like that, but I have no choice. I don’t want to cause either of them any pain, which is why I’m hiding down here.”

“Go on,” Kyungsoo prompted.

Jongdae swallowed. “I don’t plan on letting them know I’m here, which is why I wanted to ask you a favour.”

“I can pay well,” he added hastily, “this is for an extremely important mission and I haven’t been able to figure out any other way to fulfil it. What I know could put a serious dent in the Union’s plans.” 

What Jongdae said wasn’t a lie, the rebel forces would give any sum of money to get the information Jongdae held. While he knew they didn’t take on rebel-related requests, he knew money was a big influence on everything they did.

“They’re going to notice a giant, person-sized crate in here no matter how innocent it works, I can’t work miracles,” Kyungsoo remarked.

“Does that mean I can stay?”

Kyungsoo paused, his light pulsating. “I can’t exactly let you go when you’re like this. You look horrible.”

Jongdae stood there in the silence, trying to think more ways to convince Kyungsoo and make his plan more effective. He could feel Kyungsoo’s attention focused on him, making the moment even more intense. Eventually, an idea popped into his head. It wasn’t the best idea, but it was better than nothing; he had no idea when the other two would be coming back.

“Kyungsoo, input a new delivery job into the system. I need to go to M’orberang and head to the rebel headquarters from the base there since it’s nearby. I really don’t want them to know I’m here or to get involved in this at all. Make it urgent so they have no choice but to head out. I’ll even give you the account to withdraw from later.”

Kyungsoo’s light turned olive green. “They’re not going to be happy with this, they’re about to go on break. They also despise that planet with everything they’ve got, but the money might convince them.”

“At least I’m not asking for passage directly to the base.”

“Right, they wouldn’t like that either,” Kyungsoo agreed. “Okay, it’s all in the system now. You deal with the rest, I can only do so much.”

“Thank you,” Jongdae said, his shoulders slouching with relief. He beamed in Kyingsoo’s direction.

Kyungsoo’s light flashed pink and Jongdae held back a laugh. 

“Don’t mention it. You’re lucky you were always my favourite,” Kyungsoo mumbled. “Now go get ready before they come back.”

Jongdae thanked him again and hopped up from where he sat. He sped up to the main level and began assembling supplies for his makeshift shelter at the back of the cargo hold. He knew he couldn’t risk being upstairs for too long, so he didn’t have time to take much more than the bare essentials. After checking and double checking he had enough to survive, he went back down to set up his new home.

He was truly thankful to have Kyungsoo on his side. With his help he would be able to know for certain when the two were coming and going and what their plans were. He also provided much needed conversation to ease the loneliness he felt by being so close yet so far from his two best friends. He only had to persevere until they reached their final destination after completing a few jobs along the way.

It wasn’t long before Minseok and Baekhyun returned to the ship. Jongdae could hear their voices as they got ready to depart. The whole business sounded like the mess it always was when he was still apart of the crew. He was especially anxious when they finally learned of the new mission to deliver cargo (Jongdae), but he needn’t have worried. It didn’t sound like they were about to snoop about for what they were delivering just yet.

Soon enough, they had settled in and taken off.

It was still a little surreal being back after so long. He had been so far removed from this casual, nomadic lifestyle, that he had almost forgotten what it was like. On top of that, hearing their voices again so regularly instead of through the filters of memory dug up many repressed feelings. He hadn’t realized how much he missed them until now, especially while he was unable to speak with them or contact them in any way. It left him with a strange case of heartache that he struggled to suppress.

While aboard, Jongdae managed to do most of his stealing while the other two either slept or fucked, something he could hear them doing perfectly clear, even from the cargo hold. The entire business was awkward–he wasn’t used to seeing his once-best friends now in a completely different kind of relationship–but thinking too much about it brought back other feelings he’d rather keep buried and unspoken.

–

At some point during his third week in hiding, Baekhyun and Minseok decided to stay for the night, staying on the planet they had stopped at for a rest. This meant Jongdae was free to move about the ship as he pleased without needing to be as quiet as possible. He was also free of their constant presence and his inability to stop thinking about them at any given time, imagining what they were doing with every word they said or sound they made.

He’d already been upstairs to stretch his limbs and do some much needed cleaning. He thoroughly washed himself and his space suit of all the filth it had collected during his time on the space station. He also used the first aid kit to treat any of the bug bites and cuts he’d acquired during his flight and ensure he hadn’t caught some kind of illness. He also tidied his crate and got rid of his own waste. In the end, he felt much more human, just shy of comfortable.

Once he was finished his tasks, he snuggled beneath a massive pile of wool blankets that he’d stolen from the closet in his old room to keep warm in the frigid cold of the storage hold. He figured neither of the other two needed them with each other to keep warm.

“You should just expose yourself and come clean, your pining is painful to watch,” Kyungsoo said, startling him with the sudden noise and flash of amber light.

“Your opinions are unwanted and unwarranted, leave me alone,” Jongdae grumbled. He didn’t need his night of rest ruined by the reality of his situation.

Kyungsoo had taken to appearing with increasing frequency at the absolute worst times and Jongdae was getting tired of it. He didn’t need to be reminded of what could be whenever he was a) lonely and in need of company, b) melancholy because of his current situation, or c) when he was horny as fuck and the objects of his long-standing attraction were usually somwehere above him, occasionally having very loud sex.

“But I can’t stand watching this and if you don’t say something I will.” Kyungsoo’s light flashed a bright green to underline his determination.

“What am I supposed to say?” Jongdae groaned, head in his hands. “It’s been years since we met and I have no idea how they’ll react to seeing me again after so long.”

Kyungsoo somehow gave off the impression that he had rolled his eye. “I don’t know, maybe explain your situation. They haven’t changed  _ that _ much and will probably understand. Regardless, they’re starting to catch on that something strange is happening on the ship and I can’t divert their attention forever."

Jongdae shook his head. “There’s too much on the line for this mission, people’s lives are at stake and the secret I know could put a huge dent in the Union’s forces. Besides I can’t just throw all of that work away and leave Junmyeon to lead this rebellion without someone he trusts at his side. I refuse to compromise after I lost so much in the process.”

“You know, I might not be an organic life form, but I like to think of this crew as my family, and I think your brother would rather you be happy than miserable in our cargo hold. You trusted them before, remember?”

Jongdae almost resented how much sense Kyungsoo spoke considering he wasn’t human and shouldn’t be programmed to be as sensitive as it was. It was probably why he’d been deemed defective and Baekhyun had thus been able to acquire him for little money.

Jongdae didn’t need to have his resolve broken down bit by bit. He needed to get to headquarters so he could save his partner in crime as well. He kept that part secret from Kyungsoo though, it involved walking into the face of danger, which was a stupid idea.

“End of conversation, Soo. I won’t talk about it any more. Besides, I don’t want to intrude on them. Things have changed  _ a lot _ since I was last here, I’m sure you know what I mean, and I’m not interested in being a third wheel."

“I mean this with all sincerity when I say that there is a high probability that they won’t mind your presence one bit,”Kyungsoo said gently, his light a calm turquoise blue. “They still talk about you often.”

“I know,” he said quietly, “I can hear them. Goodnight, Soo.”

“And I  _ really _ don’t think you’ll be a third wheel at all,” Kyungsoo added unhelpfully.

Jongdae said nothing more and laid down in his makeshift bed. He turned his back to the light, effectively ending all conversation. He heard a quiet “night” before he drifted off to sleep.

–

Jongdae nearly lost his grasp on his water bottle when the door to the ship opened without warning. He felt the blood drain from his face and every muscle in his body tensed. His brain went into overdrive coming up with potential situations and explanations as to why he was here–no matter how many excuses he came up with when he couldn’t sleep, none of them were satisfactory.

“Fuck,” he muttered over and over, quickly turning the cap of the bottle closed.

Straining his ears for the sound of boots against metal, he scrambled for the handles of the bag he used to bring food down to the hold. He thanked every deity in the known universe that the entrance to the hold was on the opposite side of the ship from the main entrance and nearly ran into several walls in his haste to get back to his hiding place.

He had gotten so lost in his excitement that they had restocked the kitchen that he forgot to consider they might be coming back today, even though Kyungsoo had said as much when he was tying up the latest load of crystal. He had been blinded by the thought of delicious, Terran-friendly food and his ever-needy stomach and now could only hope that evidence of his pilfering was nowhere to be found.

“Go, fast, now,” Kyungsoo’s voice sounded as he walked through the hold’s doors. “They’re going to be on-board in approximately thirty seconds.”

“Thanks,” Jongdae whispered, hurrying to his crate.

Jongdae pushed the crate from where it sat on it’s against the wall so he could get inside. When he was seated, he clutched his chest, willing his heartbeat to slow down. He hadn’t been seen and now they would be on their way to his requested destination and he would off this ship for good.

Jongdae was in the middle of stuffing his face to feel better and to run from his lingering attachments to the ship and its occupants when they took off. He assumed things would proceed as usual and braced himself for when they launched into space.

Except that didn’t happen. 

Instead, the ship lurched to the side and Jongdae found his crate sliding along the wall and crashing against the back wall of the hold. The sound of metal hitting metal rang in his ears and he bit his hand to keep from calling out in fear.

He sat there, shaken by the sudden movement, until the implications of what had just happened washed over him. Jongdae had forgotten to secure the crate to the wall, blinded by hunger, and may have just potentially given himself away. Neither Baekhyun nor Minseok knew about the crate and, if he was up there flying, he would be concerned about a noise that loud coming from within the hold. He very well might be fucked, thoroughly fucked.

–

Jongdae was looking up at Minseok and Baekhyun, the two of them standing before him for the first time in six years. He was at a total loss for words and it seemed like they were too; meeting their eyes properly for the first time in so long brought back so many unexpected conflicting feelings that his brain didn’t seem to work properly.

“Okay,”Minseok said slowly, “now that we have that settled, I want to know why you, whom we haven’t seen in years, are now camping out in our store room and eating our food? Why didn’t you just talk to either of us?”

Jongdae winced, licking his lips as he tried to find the right words to so many difficult questions. He had prepared answers long before this, but the hypothetical Minseok and Baekhyun in his head were not the same as the real thing. They were far more intimidating in person and were still striking enough to play with his heartstrings even after all this time.

He closed his eyes.  _ Focus. _ They didn’t need to know the gritty details of his mission–he couldn’t compromise the operation like that–the less they knew the better, so far as he was concerned; they would be safer that day. But he didn’t want to leave them in the dark either, he owed them more than that for appearing like this and not telling them and clearly having no intention of doing so.

Jongdae chose his words carefully before he spoke, keeping in mind the details of the request Kyungsoo had given them.

“You were sent a request for an urgent delivery to M’orberang for a considerable sum of money, right?”

They both nodded, brows furrowed as their eyes bore holes into him. He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead and his leg throbbed worse than ever.

“I am the package you’re delivering to Pu’yats and I have enough money to pay for your services,”Jongdae said, pointing towards himself.

Minseok and Baekhyun’s expressions grew even more muddled and Jongdae grimaced. He knew full well that this was never going to be that easy. It might have been years since they were last together, but they knew each other too well.

Jongdae knew that neither of them were fond of doing any kind of tasks for rebel forces, it went against their personal objectives of not finding other reasons to be arrested and the general rules for the consortium of all odd jobs businesses in this part of the galaxy. They only endured it for Jongdae’s state and Jongdae had always done his best to keep them apart from his work with the rebels.

They also despised the planet M’orberang for a variety of reasons, Jongdae did too. If he had any choice, he’d never go there again, but life wasn’t that kind. All in all, Jongdae’s request was a hard sell no matter how he phrased it.

“Why do you need to go there? We all know what kind of shit hole that place is and that entire quadrant is dangerous for travel right now,” Minseok asked, focusing only on the planet…for now.

"I have  _ business, _ ” Jongdae emphasized, hopefully discouraging them from further questioning, “of the utmost importance and I need a team I trust with my life to get me there.” 

The final words came so naturally they slipped off Jongdae’s tongue before he could catch himself. True as they were, he had been determined to keep personal feelings out of this from the start. He knew internally that that was never going to happen as soon as he saw Baekhyun standing there, staring at him with wide eyes.

They both looked surprised at Jongdae’s words, eyebrows lifting in surprise. Jongdae wanted to laugh at how closely they mirrored each other right now. Was it really so odd that he still trusted them? He didn’t think it was, but he had also been hiding around in their ship afraid of how they’d react to him, so he was just as guilty.

Under their dual gazes, now softer and more contemplative than before, Jongdae felt heat creep into his face. That small admission had changed the mood entirely. For all intents and purposes he was still  _ their _ Jongdae and Jongdae was a man of his words to his core.

Baekhyun coughed and looked away. “And if we accept your request?” he asked. “Then what happens.”

Jongdae was always better at reading Baekhyun than Minseok, and he could see what Baekhyun was truly asking. Baekhyun wanted to know what Jongdae would be doing after he was finished, something Jongdae didn’t even know himself. Jongdae considered what he had to offer with certainty, aside from the promised money.

“You know about the money, but I can do just about anything else. I used to work with you, after all. I can be a servant, do maintenance–I didn’t get my engineering certificate for nothing–cooking, anything.”

Baekhyun cocked his head to the side in thought while Minseok had a hand on his chin as they both considered him carefully.

“Well, you  _ are _ already here and, like you said, you’re useful to have around. That’s not the real reason why I want you to stay of course. You’re my best friend Jongdae I’m not about to kick you out when you’ve gone so far to stay.” Baekhyun said warmly.

Jongdae’s heart inflated a little and he turned towards Minseok, who seemed to be having trouble keeping a straight face.

Minseok took a deep breath. “While I’m still upset that you left us for so long, I agree with Baekhyun. Kyungsoo apparently gave his blessing as well, which is worth more.”

Jongdae knew Minseok had taken his disappearance harder considering Jongdae had left for the rebel base while Minseok was off the ship for a job. He hoped he would be able to somehow make it up to him while he was here, though he still had to figure out how.

Jongdae thanked them profusely but was interrupted Baekhyun interjected his apology, “Ok, I think we should get going now, before they figure out we fudged this job and send even more people after us.”

“We  _ what?!” _ Minseok yelled, turning towards Baekhyun.

Baekhyun just shrugged. “This mining operation is illegal anyway, I figured it’d do well for the people of that planet to be free of a mine that was polluting the air.”

As they bickered, Jongdae watched them fondly, realizing that he’d missed their company far more than he thought and was overjoyed that he’d get to be a part of it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** My Twitter [daejakyu](https://twitter.com/daejakyu)  
> ** My [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/daejakyu)

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more I swear.
> 
> Huge thanks to the mods for being so kind and understanding, even when I went and switched prompts. Thanks to S for reading it over and A for crying with me as we both wrote.
> 
> ** My Twitter [daejakyu](https://twitter.com/daejakyu)  
> ** My [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/daejakyu)


End file.
